Pollak asked Smith if the controversy over the president’s aforementioned remarks would damage the political atmosphere for negotiations. Smith described Democrats’ focus on Trump’s “s***hole” comments as both a”distraction” and an “excuse” to avoid good faith negotiations. Partial transcript:

POLLAK: Do you think that the president’s remarks, or the controversy about the president’s remarks will make that more difficult?

SMITH: No. If the Democrats don’t want to negotiate, they’ll always come up with some excuse, and maybe this is an indication that they were never serious to begin with, but they’ll always come up with some reason not to negotiation, or make an excuse not to make concessions. This is just another distraction, another excuse for the Democrats to do that. I think when things settle down over the next several days we’ll find out whether the Democrats were really serious and want to have an immigration bill, want to try to something for some of the so-called DACA folks. We’ll know that in the next few days. It’ll be an indication of whether they’re negotiating in good faith whether they come back to the table.

Smith’s pending retirement at the end of this year should not be viewed as a harbinger of ill political fortune for the GOP, said Smith. Partial transcript below: